Review: Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover

When Tate Collins meets airline pilot Miles Archer, she doesn’t think it’s love at first sight. They wouldn’t even go so far as to consider themselves friends. The only thing Tate and Miles have in common is an undeniable mutual attraction. Once their desires are out in the open, they realize they have the perfect set-up. He doesn’t want love, she doesn’t have time for love, so that just leaves the sex. Their arrangement could be surprisingly seamless, as long as Tate can stick to the only two rules Miles has for her.

Never ask about the past.
Don’t expect a future.

They think they can handle it, but realize almost immediately they can’t handle it at all.

Full disclosure: I’m already a pretty big fan of Colleen Hoover’s writing style. Her characters are quirky and completely authentic human beings. They make mistakes and live on emotions. Her stories are well developed and engaging.

Gotta say, Ms. Hoover nailed it again with Ugly Love! I loved Ms. Hoover’s characters in Hopeless & Losing Hope but this one had a story that kept calling to me all stinkin’ day. “Read me.” “Read me.” Well, okay, if I must. I read until I finished it at 1:30am. Why?

Because of a girl named Tate.

Tate has just driven up to San Francisco from Southern California to move in with her brother while she works as a nurse and completes her master’s degree. Having done the drive myself many times, it’s not an easy drive (can you say L.A. traffic on the 405?) Exhausted, hungry, and ready to pass out, Tate winds up at her brother’s apartment door to find a guy sleeping in front of the door. Passed out. Blocking her entry into the apartment. After a series of comical errors and one hand injury, Tate is dragging her new neighbor onto the couch to sleep off his hangover.

What ensues the next morning sets up Tate’s personality for the rest of the book perfectly. Tate wakes up the next morning to the angry neighbor staring at her from her doorway demanding to know what happened to his hand.

[quote]I roll over, still not quite finished with sleeping, even though he thinks I owe him some sort of explanation. I pull the covers over my head. “Lock the front door on your way out,” I say, hoping he’ll take the hint…[/quote]

Ms. Hoover did a fantastic job illustrating the changes in Tate from the beginning of the story to the end. I felt the metaphors she used to depict what Tate felt towards a certain neighbor… Miles.

Miles has issues. Understatement of the year. When Miles was 18, he went through a horrifying experience that I wish on no one in this world. At the beginning of the book, we know something happened, we just don’t know what. But through Miles’ own words from flashback chapters, we learn everything. This is NOT for the squeamish. It is a tough subject – I won’t lie!!

I don’t know if it was because I’m a fan of Ms. Hoover’s and I’m familiar with her writing or if it was strictly her talent as a writer but I could just imagine Miles’ point of view as I read through the chapters that were actually written from Tate’s point of view. Miles was a character that I got more from what he didn’t say… and so did Tate, ironically.

From a unique typesetting convention used to convey emotion to amazing scenes between characters that grip your soul and rip it to shreds, this book will be on my end of the year list of favorite books. When you want to read a book so fast because you know the next words, the next sentence are going to be awesome, but you don’t want to miss one word in between… you know that’s a good book.

Photo credit: Jen Sterling

About the Author:

Colleen Hoover is the New York Times bestselling author of Slammed, Point of Retreat, Hopeless, and This Girl and Losing Hope. Colleen lives in Texas with her husband and their three boys.

About Kristin

Kristin has to ensure she gets her minimal requirement of "happily ever after" books in between those books that contain cliffhangers and never-ending story arcs. It's for her family's sake. When not reading, she's homeshooling her 10-year old son, watching cartoons on TV, or taking a nap.

12 responses to “Review: Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover”

Well, I’ve already dissected this book with you, so you know my stance. And yeah, I totally agree, it was easy for me to understand Miles POV even though we’re not getting it at that time. I saw what Tate was able to see.Christy recently posted…Sunday Post #94 (9/7/14)

Loved this book! I was gutted with Miles’ POV and I loved how she did it. The subject was hard for sure. I knew something like it would happen but it still wasn’t easy for sure. My favorite book still remains Maybe Someday. I just loved that story, although Hopeless, specifically Losing Hope, rivals it.Brooke recently posted…Release Day Blast: Lasting Love by Kailin Gow @kailingow @markmywordspr

From the feedback I’ve read, it seems like reviewers either LOVE or HATE this book—there is no middle ground. I’m happy to see that you count yourself among the former; being an existing fan of Hoover’s writing probably helped a lot. It’s always good to get a different perspective, thanks for sharing!Carmel recently posted…Review: Ghost Layer by Robin D. Owens

What Carmel said above is totaly true—people either love or hate this book. That being said, I feel like i’m in my own category. I enjoyed this book (but admit it didn’t affect me as much as Colleen’s other work) but didn’t view it as a romance. I purely view Ugly Love as Miles story. Tate was just someone who helped him and gave us a better opprtunity to see him but he I don’t consider Ugly Love to be their story at all. I don’t know. I told you i’m in a category on my own! Either way, love this review 🙂Lily recently posted…Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass #3):Review

WOW this is one book that has gotten a lot of love and a lot of hate. I have to say this Colleen Hoover knows how to move her fan base emotionally since there is very little middle ground int he reviews I have seen 🙂Felicia the Geeky Blogger recently posted…#LoveMyLibraryCard Library Donations

I listened to the audio of this thanks to pub and oooh I agree this was soooo good!! I am a fan of her too, and loved that this was NA/Adultkimbacaffeinate recently posted…The Witch With No Name by Kim Harrison

Ah, so you read it and loved it too ? I guess I’ll have to catch up and read that novel… That TBR pile isn’t going down some time soon lol ! 😉 Thanks for sharing !Red Iza recently posted…Whitney Gracia Williams : Reasonable doubt #2

I reaaaaaallllly neeed to read Colleen Hoover soon! You have me intrigued about Miles! Though, I am a bit squeamish :/ But so happy hear you loved it!
Thanks for the review!Cyn recently posted…Review: Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas

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